Final Exam
The final examination is an oral exam where the student presents and defends her/his research procedures, results and conclusions. The presentation will be made to an examining committee consisting of the student’s advisory committee and is open to interested faculty, staff and students. After the presentation the student will be orally examined by the examining committee. The final oral examination can be scheduled once all coursework requirements have been fulfilled and the committee is satisfied that the dissertation is complete, but not earlier than one semester after admission to candidacy. The exam must be scheduled no later than 17 days prior to the proposed examination date and the final dissertation must be provided to the committee at least 17 days prior to the exam date. Failure to meet this deadline will result in the exam being cancelled.
After successfully defending the dissertation, the student shall provide a copy to ETD within 24 hours of the end of the exam. Instructions for ETD submission can be found in the SIS Training and Operations Manual.
Deadlines for Submission of Dissertations
Deadline to graduate during the current semester
The student must have passed the oral examination “unconditionally” or have passed “conditionally” and have cleared all conditions while being registered for the semester he/she is graduating in; and dissertation submitted online to ETD for the initial review by four weeks before the last day of class.
Deadline to graduate, but not register for the current semester
The student must have passed oral examination “unconditionally”, or passed “conditionally” and have cleared all conditions; and dissertation submitted online to ETD for initial ETD review by the last working day before the first day of classes for that semester. The student must also have been registered in the semester preceding the one he/she plans on graduating in. It is not necessary to turn in the final dissertation by that date, just to have had the review. (For example, to graduate in the Fall semester but not register for the Fall semester, the student must satisfy these conditions prior to the first day of classes for the Fall semester.)
When all changes have been made, the thesis editor will accept the ETD in the system. (Once the ETD has been accepted there can be no further changes.) An automatic email will be sent to the student and the advisor notifying them that the ETD has been accepted. The URL will be noted on the email.
There will be no paper copies issued by the Graduate School. It is the student’s responsibility to determine if anyone requires a paper copy and to provide it to them. See the ETD Guide for further details.